KNOXVILLE — Scotty Hopson’s ability to score in basketball never has been questioned.
But recently the Tennessee junior’s defensive work has aided him when the ball is in his hands.
And that has helped the Volunteers win their last two games, both in Southeastern Conference play after they opened league play with two losses.
“I think if I can find a way to get [Hopson] closer to the basket on the defensive end, I think it’s helping him offensively,” coach Bruce Pearl said.
Pearl put the long-armed Hopson, a 6-foot-7 shooting guard, on the opponent’s small forward against Vanderbilt and Georgia.
Vanderbilt’s Jeffery Taylor made just five of 14 field-goal tries for his 14 points last Saturday, and Georgia’s Travis Leslie scored 14 on 11 shots Tuesday.
“We put him on the last two small forwards with the idea of the closer Scotty gets to the basket, sometimes the better he looks [offensively],” Pearl said.
“Therefore, if defensively he’s closer to the basket — guarding Taylor, guarding Leslie — he’s having to physically mix it up a little bit more. So when he gets back down on offense, we’re wanting him to go back in there and mix it up. I think that’s helping him. He’s got contact throughout the game.”
Since the first half against Vanderbilt when he made just one field goal, Hopson has played to his strengths offensively, aggressively penetrating into the lane as opposed to settling for jump shots and 3-pointers.
That’s allowed him to score 16 and 15 points, and Leslie played just 25 minutes Tuesday because of foul trouble guarding Hopson.
“I play better getting to the rim,” Hopson said. “I’m a slasher, I’m a scorer and I do better things getting to the rim and finishing, so me just having to be conscious of getting to the rim on the defensive end and rebounding helps my mindset and focus getting to that rim even more and be in that attack mode.”
The risk in having Hopson defend an opposing player who also likes to attack the basket is foul trouble. He picked up two quick fouls and finished with four against Georgia, just the sixth time this season he’s had more than three in a game.
“Just me being a bigger guard, one of the bigger 2 guards in the SEC, I think I did a great job,” Hopson said. “I think the main focus with guarding bigger guards is a lot of them tend to crash the glass more [and] get to the rim more.
“Sometimes it’s hard to guard a smaller guard that might be quicker than me, but it’s something I’m still working on and conscious of. The matchup with me and a bigger guard has been good. I’ve relished it.”
The challenge will be different Saturday for Hopson, who’s expected to see some time guarding Connecticut’s Kemba Walker. Though Walker is just 6-1, he’s the nation’s second-leading scorer (25.5 points per game) and shoots 84 percent on an average of eight free-throw attempts per game.
Hopson is still progressing as a defender, and Pearl pointed out on an example of a lapse Hopson had against Georgia, when he failed to close out hard enough on Danny Ware’s tying 3-pointer late in the game.
“You could see right from the beginning: Scotty was very, very focused,” Pearl said. “And yet on Ware’s last 3, he didn’t exactly press up on [him]. I’m going to make sure that he understands that there’s an example of what Scotty can’t do.
“It’s inspiring to see Scotty play as hard as anybody out there. That’s exciting.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com or 901-581-7288.
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